Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

herbaceous plant Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent wood, woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennial plant, perennials, and nearly all Annual plant, annuals and Biennial plant, biennials. Definition ...

in the family

Polygonaceae The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The name is based on the genus '' Polygonum'', and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1 ...

. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ('dock' being a common name for the genus '' Rumex''). Sorrel is native to Eurasia and a common plant in

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

habitats. It is often cultivated as a

leaf vegetable Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad gre ...

or herb.

Description

Sorrel is a slender herbaceous perennial

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

about high, with roots that run deep into the ground, as well as juicy stems and arrow-shaped ( sagittate) leaves. The lower leaves are in length with long petioles and a membranous ocrea formed of fused, sheathing stipules. The upper ones are

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, and frequently become crimson. It has whorled spikes of reddish-green

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s, which bloom in early summer, becoming purplish. The species is dioecious, with stamens and pistils on different plants.

Subspecies

Several subspecies have been named. Not all are cultivated. * ''Rumex acetosa'' ssp. ''acetosa'' * ''Rumex acetosa'' ssp. ''ambiguus'' * ''Rumex acetosa'' ssp. ''arifolius'' * ''Rumex acetosa'' ssp. ''hibernicus'' * ''Rumex acetosa'' ssp. ''hirtulus'' * ''Rumex acetosa'' ssp. ''vinealis''

Distribution and habitat

''R. acetosa'' occurs in grassland habitats throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

from the northern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

coast to the north of

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

and in parts of

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. It occurs as an introduced species in parts of New Zealand, Australia and North America. It can grow in poor soil.

Ecology

The leaves are eaten by the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e of several species of Lepidoptera (

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

and

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

) including the

blood-vein The blood-vein (''Timandra comae'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Anton Schmidt in 1931. Distribution It has a scattered distribution in western and central Europe north of the Alps. In the British Isle ...

moth, as well as by non-specialized snails and slugs.

Uses

Common sorrel has been cultivated for centuries. The leaves are edible when young but toughen with age; they may be puréed in soups and

sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...

s or added to

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

. The plant has a distinct sharp, sour taste. It contains oxalic acid, which can be poisonous in high quantities. In

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, the leaves are used in soups or curries made with yellow lentils and peanuts. In

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, the leaves are coated in a wet batter and deep fried, then served as an appetizer or if in season during Ramadan, for breaking the fast. In

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

, the leaves are collected in spring, woven into braids, and dried for use during winter. The most common preparation is aveluk soup, where the leaves are rehydrated and rinsed to reduce bitterness, then stewed with onions, potatoes, walnuts, garlic and bulgur wheat or lentils, and sometimes sour plums. Throughout

eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

, wild or garden sorrel is used to make sour soups, stewed with vegetables or herbs, meat or eggs. In rural Greece, it is used with spinach,

leeks The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Alliu ...

, and chard in

spanakopita Spanakopita (; el, σπανακόπιτα, from ''spanáki'' 'spinach', and πίτα ''píta'' 'pie') is a Greek savory spinach pie. It often also contains cheese, typically feta, and may then be called spanakotiropita ( el, σπανακοτ� ...

. In

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, the leaves are simmered and served cold marinated in olive oil, or as an ingredient for filling '' byrek'' pies (''byrek me lakra''). "Escalope de saumon à l'oseille" (

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

escalope An escalope is traditionally a piece of boneless meat that has been thinned out using a mallet or rolling pin or beaten with the handle of a knife, or merely butterflied. The mallet breaks down the fibres in the meat, making it more tender. The ...

in sorrel sauce), invented in 1962 by the

Troisgros Troisgros () is a French restaurant and hotel with a primary location in Ouches (Loire, France) and additional affiliated restaurants in Roanne and Iguerande, in France. It started in 1930 as a restaurant located in Roanne, held by Jean-Baptis ...

brothers, is an emblematic dish of the French

nouvelle cuisine ''Nouvelle cuisine'' (; ) is an approach to cooking and food presentation in French cuisine. In contrast to cuisine classique, an older form of haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine is characterized by lighter, more delicate dishes and an increased e ...

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

traditionally cooks fish with sorrel because its acidity dissolves thin fish bones. In the Caribbean, the roselle flower commonly made into sweet drinks is known as "sorrel", but this plant from

Western Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurita ...

is actually a form of

hibiscus ''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...

unrelated to the Eurasian sorrel herb.A hibiscus drink, by any of its names, is sweet
/ref>

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q26297 Rumex Herbs Sour foods Leaf vegetables Perennial vegetables Medicinal plants Caribbean cuisine Plants described in 1753 Ukrainian cuisine Polish cuisine Dioecious plants Russian cuisine Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus